Common Scents

One thing some aspiring and many established authors forget to do is

STOP!

And "smell the roses:" to live life, to garner new experiences, to step outside the box, etc.

In other words, leave the writing alone for awhile--it'll keep; life won't.

I've been catching up on yard/housework, taking care of family business, attending my cousin's wedding, listening to concerts in the park. I needed to do these activities, but more importantly, my Superior temporal gyrus (the section of the right brain where creativity is thought to spark) demanded a break.

I take a 'brain break' by working in my meditation garden, and this has been the result:

And this:

And this:

Other flowers will bloom after these are finished, so I will always have something of beauty to gaze upon, appreciate--and take care of. Just like my writing, there are times you simply have to enjoy something but turn your attention elsewhere. My garden doesn't need me now, but my writing does.

Need a fresh angle? Stuck on dialogue?

Don't write.

For now.

While you're mulling over the writing obstacle you're facing, do something else and let the solution come to you. (It will!).

I'm headed back to the writing cave, but I know this afternoon, I'll take a break and after some laundry, I'll be here:

Go enjoy a mini mind vacation.

Char

Too Soon Lost

It's been a rough two weeks. A number of good people have left us to continue their voyage beyond this life.

My Uncle Russ (my mother's brother). I hadn't seen him in a number of years and well, drama kind of kept us at a distance, but he was family. I'm saddened for my aunt and the family and friends who will miss him. I'm upset because if he'd gone to the doctor sooner, pneumonia wouldn't have claimed him. Even more tragic was he didn't heal the rift with two of his estranged children. We always think we will eventually make certain things right, but we wait too long and they remain forever undone.

Aine (Andrea Burdette of Aine's Realm blog). She was a totally devoted book lover. Her blog, her attendance at book and author venues, her connections with writers-- were such a huge part of her life. No one who met her forgot her. We shared some laughs and observations and good old chit chat and I was shocked to hear of her sudden passing. When you're young, a life span seems so long, but that's not always the reality. Hopefully we pack as much as we can into the time we're given, because we never know if our lives will be so much shorter than we would ever have guessed.

Cynthis Chapman Willis (MG author and KidLit Authors Club founding member). I did a signing with her in PA, and she was one of those people you instantly felt comfortable with. She shared conversation, enthusiasm, and her smile. Most of us didn't know how sick she was, and that's a testament to her strong character and will to remain positive. Our determination and strength can't always fight fate. It's sad to think of all the wonderful stories she had in her that will never be written.

There are others; some more famous, some not YA writers, some I didn't know except by name, but it sobers me that their voices, their presence, their energy is gone from this world.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever... (Mahatma Gandhi)

So go out there-- live and learn.

Char